Is there Idolatry in the Catholic Church?

Did you know that the Roman Catholic Church have their own version of the Ten Commandments, and not only changed the fourth Commandment, which is why most Churches now worship on Sunday, but they also deleted the second Commandment on idolatry? For detailed information see the Roman Catholic Version of the Ten Commandments. Can man change the Ten Commandments of God that define what sin is? (1 John 3:4) Not a chance! If God really allowed this, then man could abolish all the Ten Commandments and then we would have no need for a Saviour! Despite this, many Roman Catholics are very quick to tell us that their Church does have the authority to change the law of God and so their change of the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday was allowed. Note the following blasphemous quote from the Catholic Church that makes God obsolete.

“The Pope is of great authority and power, that he is able to modify, declare, or interpret even divine laws. The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth...” — Lucius Ferraris, in “Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica, Juridica, Moralis, Theologica, Ascetica, Polemica, Rubristica, Historica”, Volume V, article on “Papa, Article II”, titled “Concerning the extent of Papal dignity, authority, or dominion and infallibility”, #30, published in Petit-Montrouge (Paris) by J. P. Migne, 1858 edition.

If this were really possible then the Papal Church should have no problem in changing any of the Ten Commandments to whatever they want and whenever they want and just exhorting that they had the authority. I would have expected Catholics to have said the same thing in regards to the second Commandment but when it comes to idolatry, instead of stating they deleted the second Commandment and they were allowed to do this, some Catholics tend to get upset and say that there is no idolatry in the Catholic Church. Like most people, it seems easy to sweep the fourth Commandment under the carpet but not so easy when it comes to something like idolatry.

When it comes to the fourth Commandment, there seems to be 3 groups. Group 1 knows the truth and keep all Ten Commandments and state that the fourth Commandment is a blessing and their favourite day of the week. (Isaiah 58:13-14) Group 2, which is comprised of most Churches have one of a million and one different excuses. Group 3 is the Catholic Church and they have only one excuse. We can change the law of God. The crazy thing is that group 2 with all their different excuses very rarely know that group 3 changed the Commandment and is why they worship on Sunday and some are even denying this truth on their web sites just to avoid obedience to this one Commandment. Satan really has this one all wrapped up and claps his hands with glee with the victory he has achieved over this one very special Commandment that is not just about resting but defines who we worship and give our allegiance to. What did Jesus say about keeping the traditions of man in place of His Ten Commandment law?

Mark 7:6-9 “Jesus answered them, “How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you! You are hypocrites, just as he wrote: 'These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me. It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!' “You put aside God's command and obey human teachings.” And Jesus continued, “You have a clever way of rejecting God's law in order to uphold your own teaching.”

So how do you argue with something as absurd as we can change the Ten Commandments? At least there seems to be more conviction with some Roman Catholics and most other denominations when it comes to the other nine Commandments such as idolatry. Despite what many Catholics believe, there is more idolatry in the Roman Catholic Church than one could even begin to imagine. It is possible that in some cases this may not be apparent in ones own Church but it does exist in a huge way in the Papal Catholic system and is especially obvious in South America and in Rome. For example, the Catholic Church originally changed the Sabbath to Sunday in favour of Sun Worship as the Catholic Church was entrenched in Sun Worship especially in the early days. Another such example, as paganism was brought into the Catholic Church the pagan statues had to be given Christian names, eg: the Statue of St Peter in St Peters Cathedral was originally the statue of the pagan god Jupiter. This statue has had its foot kissed away and replaced because of the multitude of Catholics that have bowed down to this statue and kissed its foot. There can be no other name for this other than idolatry, especially when this was originally a pagan god. There are many more such examples that could be given of where the Catholic Church is involved in worshiping other gods. Many people don't realise that the biggest sun dial in the world is the eight-rayed sun wheel, which was symbolic of the god Ishtar and is located in St Peters Square in the Vatican seen in the picture to the left.

Some dispute that Church leaders incorporated pagan religious practices from Babylon into the Catholic Church but even Catholic historians admit it. Cardinal Newman in his Development of Christian Doctrine, pages 372, 373 says that they incorporated many pagan religious practices into the Church. He claims that the Church sanctified them and that made it safe to bring these practices into the Church. The Catholic Council of Trent also declared that: “It is lawful to have images in the Church and to give honour and worship to them ... Images are put in Churches that they may be worshipped.”

The Oxford dictionary defines an idol as: “An image used as an object of worship. A person or thing that is the object of excessive devotion.” If you hail Mary, then you are committing IDOLATRY. If you line the streets with millions of others to lay eyes on a dead Pope as with John Paul II, then you are committing IDOLATRY.

So an Idolater is a devoted admirer of idols but what does the Bible say about images and idols?

1. Exodus 20:4-5
“Thou shalt not MAKE unto thee ANY graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not BOW DOWN thyself to them Nor SERVE them.”

Do Catholics MAKE graven images? Yes.
Do Catholics KNEEL down to statues of Mary or Jesus? Yes.
Do Catholics SERVE Mary? Yes, as in “Legion of Mary.”
Do Catholics BOW DOWN and kiss the foot of the pagan god Jupiter which was renamed St Peter? Yes.

2. Leviticus 26:1
“You shall make you NO IDOLS nor GRAVEN IMAGE. Neither rear you up a STANDING IMAGE. Neither shall ye set up any IMAGE OF STONE in your land to bow down unto it.”

Do Catholics rear up STANDING IMAGES? Yes.
Do Catholics set up any IMAGE OF STONE? Yes.

3. Deuteronomy 4:16
“Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and MAKE you a GRAVEN IMAGE, the similitude of ANY FIGURE, the likeness of MALE or FEMALE.”

Do Catholics make graven images of MALE or FEMALE? Yes. Mary is a female. Jesus and the apostles are males.

5. 1 Thessalonians 1:9
“How ye turned to God FROM IDOLS to serve the living and true God.”

Did the early Christians turn FROM IDOLS? Yes.

6. Deuteronomy 27:15
“CURSED be the man that MAKES ANY GRAVEN or MOLTEN IMAGE, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place.”

Does God put a curse on any person that makes any image? Yes.
Why does God call an image an ABOMINATION? Because He hates it.

7. The early Christians had NO IMAGES
Early Christian writers such as Irenaeus, Clement, Cyprian, Athanasius and Jerome wrote strongly AGAINST images, statues and any manner of prayer or veneration regarding them. The Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. voted unanimously to remove all images from the Churches.

8. The Catholic Church removes the second Commandment against MAKING graven images from the list of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17. This presents them with the problem of only having 9 Commandments. They resolve this problem by splitting Commandment number 10 into 9 and 10. That is: 9. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife. 10. You shall not covet your neighbour's goods. The following is seen in the book “A brief summary of the Ten Commandments” by the Daughters of St. Paul, p.12, 13:

WHAT ARE THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD?The Commandments of God are these ten:
“I am the Lord your God:1. You shall not have strange Gods before me.2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.3. Remember to keep holy the Lord's day.4. Honor your father and your mother.5. You shall not kill.6. You shall not commit adultery.7. You shall not steal.8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.9. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife.10. You shall not covet your neighbour's goods.” Exodus 20:1-17

The number Two Commandment should be “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” Exodus 20:4. Check your Catechism to see if they have left it out.

Question: Why do you think they left it out?

9. Every Catholic institution has images of Mary, Jesus and male and female figures. An example of this are two statues at the French Papal Palace of Avignon, one of Jesus about 20 metres above ground level, and the other is an enormous statue of Mary, much larger, grander and higher up than that of Jesus. This gives the greater honour to Mary than Jesus. It also breaks the second Commandment forbidding making images of things in heaven.

Who do we believe, the Word of God or the Catholic Church? “We ought to obey God, rather than men.” Acts 5:29

Our humble apologies to all Roman Catholics but genuine love demands preaching of Bible truth so that no honest person will be deceived for eternity is at stake. While identifying the Roman Catholic Church as Mystery Babylon, we hasten to remind all sincere Christians that many of Christ's true followers are still members of this Church. They are unaware of the deception under which they worship. The Saviour died for them as well as people of all other faiths. The present is surely the time for love to be expressed in sincere action as these precious saints are called out of apostasy into the light of God's saving truth.

When Israel committed spiritual adultery, God called His Church a “WHORISH WOMAN”, a “HARLOT” and a “WHORE” and accused her of “ADULTERY” and “FORNICATION.” See Ezekiel 16:26-32, Jeremiah 3:1-25. The Catholic Church is in fact guilty of much worse than Israel as you will soon see from the passage below from our Lord and Saviour Himself. In a recent address to the nations, Pope Benedict caused a major uproar among many Churches as he referred to the Catholic Church as being the “MOTHER” Church and called for all the daughter Churches to come back to HER. Many Churches today are called daughter Churches because they originally came from the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, many of these daughter Churches have also ignorantly inherited her various false doctrines and this is why SHE is called the “MOTHER OF HARLOTS” and is mystery Babylon. Whether you believe that the Roman Catholic Church is guilty of idolatry or not, the fact is that there can be no doubt on the truth of the passage below and God says the Catholic Church is guilty of idolatry and much worse. There is no mistaking that symbolically a woman represents a Church in the Bible as the Church is the bride of Christ as even the Catholic Church knows and there is only one Church that matches these criteria such as these colours and has the blood of millions on her hands.

Revelation 17:1-6 “I will show unto you the judgment of the great whore [God calls an idolatrous Church a HARLOT and a WHORE and guilty of adultery and fornication:Ezekiel 16:26-32, Jeremiah 3:1-25] that sitteth upon many waters [symbolic of how literal Babylon was built over water:Revelation 17:15]: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication [false doctrines]. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman [Church:Scriptures] sit upon a scarlet [Sin:Isaiah 1:18 sinful because she changed God's law that defines sin] coloured beast [Kingdom:Daniel 7:17; 7:23], full of names of blasphemy [she has many blasphemous practices], having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman [Church] was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold [official Vatican colours, OT Priest robes ALSO had blue which represents God's law:Exodus 28:4-6; Numbers 15:38-40] and precious stones and pearls, [Vatican is filthy rich] having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, [very few understand what originated from this mystery Babylonian religion and where many of the traditions of the Catholic religion really started] BABYLON [God calls her Babylon because her paganism that has affected His true Church originated from literal Babylon] THE GREAT, THE MOTHER [Catholic Church calls herself the Mother Church] OF HARLOTS [many Churches came from her and ignorantly took on her pagan idolatrous practices] AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH [she is guilty of the most abominable crimes]. 6 And I saw the woman [Church] drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: [The Catholic Church murdered and tortured over 68,000,000 Christian saints].”

“The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps, and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holydays and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields; sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the East, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church.” — An Essay on The Development of the Christian Doctrine John Henry “Cardinal Newman” p.373.

“It has often been charged… that Catholicism is overlaid with many pagan incrustations. Catholicism is ready to accept that accusation and even to make it her boast… the great god Pan is not really dead, he is baptized” — The Story of Catholicism p 37.

“It is interesting to note how often our Church has availed herself of practices which were in common use among pagans … Thus it is true, in a certain sense, that some Catholic rites and ceremonies are a reproduction of those of pagan creeds…” — (The Externals of the Catholic Church, Her Government, Ceremonies, Festivals, Sacramentals and Devotions, by John F. Sullivan, p 156, published by P.J. Kennedy, NY, 1942).